The Outbreak Series (Book 4): Deadlocked

by Baker, Thomas

  Hannah fell silent, and it wasn't long before she began to doze. JT snatched glances at her as he traveled the lonesome highway. A few short months ago she would never have considered napping on a car ride. Now, as their time together proved, she knew JT wouldn't let anything happen to her. Not now, not ever.

  It had even been awhile since she woke him in the middle of the night with one of her awful nightmares. The ones that were usually a combination of Ashley, Albright, and that psychopath Harold. There were even a couple about Charlie, where he killed JT and had his way with her.

  JT did all he could to help her feel secure and to escape her night terrors. His actions seemed to have worked. Now she slept at peace most nights in JT's arms, secure in his embrace.

  PLAINS

  Hannah's struggled against her heavy eyes, a battle she seemed to be losing. Her leg of the drive had been a boring one. The war seemed over, then she saw the sign.

  She was overjoyed as they cruised into the town of Jayton. She found a place to park, off the beaten path and shielded by a fairly dense tree line from the main road. JT woke up next to her as the RV came to a stop. He rubbed the sleep away as he checked to make sure everything was okay.

  "I'm beat," she said. She rubbed her own neck and shoulders while twisting her head in circles.

  "Let's go to bed, stud." It came out through a deep yawn.

  JT took her by the hand back to the bedroom of the RV.

  "Take your shirt off and lay down on the bed," he commanded.

  With a sideways smile she did as he said and laid down on her front. He proceeded to massage her aching muscles. His touch sent relaxing chills throughout her body and she succumbed to her sleepiness.

  A big bump startled her awake the next morning. It took her a moment to realize that the RV was moving. A few seconds later she caught the sound of JT belting out the words to a Metallica song.

  I guess I was more tired than I thought, I didn't even notice JT get up or anything.

  She smiled, good vibes washed over her. She couldn't wait for the reunion that lay ahead. It's crazy to feel this happy in a world gone cold, she thought as she nestled herself under the covers and curled up with JT's pillow.

  She had no idea how long she had drifted back off, but JT now blared a song she knew from her childhood, one that her Mom always liked, Bad Medicine.

  Hannah got herself together and walked to the front of the RV. She leaned over and gave JT a kiss before settling into the passenger seat.

  "Well, look who missed the beautiful red hills of Oklahoma," JT chided her. "I'm glad you're awake. I need a break and a piss."

  "Always so classy," Hannah said, coming fully to.

  JT must've made good time as the sign Hannah read out her window noted that Colorado wasn't far away.

  "I know what you mean," she agreed. "Let's stop somewhere, take a break, I wanna drive for a while anyways. You've clearly done your fair share already."

  Hannah and JT pulled off at an exit near Buffalo, Oklahoma and pulled into a rest stop. They waited in the RV for a few minutes, surveying the area out the windows. The only motion Hannah noticed was a female zombie shambling near a frame which housed state maps and in front of it, a couple of wooden benches.

  The zombie appeared unable to figure out how to get around the benches. It had smacked the benches enough that deep gashes crossed both legs below the knees. No blood gushed out.

  JT was the first to get out of the RV, as was the almost constant routine, and took care of the confused zombie woman with two quick stabs in the skull. He shaded his eyes, did a complete turn, then waved Hannah out.

  She joined him, and two of them took a short stroll to stretch their legs. Before they left they went to use the restroom, which reeked to high heaven, and got back on the road.

  JT laid the passenger seat all the way back as Hannah fired up the RV and pulled out.

  ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

  The RV jostled up and down as Hannah steered around the wreckage as best she could. It sucked that the best way to get to the little mountain hideaway was through Colorado Springs. Here the two of them had done their best for a year to stay out of bigger cities, and now they were plowing right through one. Yes, plowing was the correct word.

  The intervening year hadn't changed the city much, except make things worse. Even though it was spring, a late snow must have fallen. Not much more than an inch covered the highway. Under it the road must have been full of holes, as much as the RV bounced around. Hannah spread her arms wide on the steering wheel to help keep control.

  She couldn't spare him a look, but she knew JT was tight-lipped beside her. He hadn't made a sound since entering the city. She was also sure he wanted to take over. He had come a long way in controlling those impulses of his, the ones that almost always got him into trouble, since she first met him.

  A tangled wreck loomed ahead around a corner. She had been going slow, fifteen miles an hour at most, but still she felt the RV slide in the slush as she applied the brake. Sweat broke out on her forehead as she fought for control.

  "Can you turn down the heat, hon?" she asked JT. "It feels like a brick oven in here."

  "The heat isn't even on," he replied in a tight voice.

  The median wall approached at a slow crawl. Somehow she maintained enough control to get the RV through the gap between the wall and the piled up remains of several vehicles. Once through she saw that it wasn't but another half mile ahead laid another one. They were like icebergs marching off into the distance.

  Instead of going on, Hannah maneuvered the RV all the way over to the exit ramp and skated down the hill to the street below. I guess I'm lucky there is no traffic anymore, she thought as the stop sign at the bottom came and went. With clenched teeth Hannah hit the curb, which rattled the RV to an abrupt stop.

  "This is one of many reasons I hate winter," Hannah said as she threw the RV into park. "JT, this isn't going to work."

  JT unbuckled his seat belt with an angry slap. "Yeah. If we can't make it through this with the RV, good luck getting it up the mountains. How do people do it?"

  "I guess they're more skilled than we are," Hannah said with a shrug of her shoulders. "We need to find something else to drive, like a four-wheel truck."

  "Sounds good to me." JT got up and grabbed a coat out of the closet.

  Hannah joined him. "I hope we can come back to get her. This has been the closest thing to finding a safe haven and a home since all this started." She patted the side of the RV.

  "I wouldn't think anybody would mess with her. I don't think there is anybody left alive here."

  With that depressing thought, Hannah slung her rifle over her shoulder, tucked the pistol into the holder on her hip, and slipped her knife into her coat pocket. Lastly, she put on her hat. "I hope we find something close by. We've gotten spoiled about not having to walk miles and miles. Especially in the cold."

  "I think I saw a car lot half-a-mile back. I just hope we can get something to start." Lines crinkled JT's brow below his stocking cap.

  Hannah braced herself before opening the door. She expected a blast of arctic air, but that wasn't the case. She stepped down and felt the snow squish under her sneakers. They had prepared little for coming back other than the coats and hats, which she hoped they wouldn't even need to use.

  Eyes open for the slightest signs of movement, the two backtracked to the car lot, JT in the lead. Hannah scanned each four-way stop they came to, looking for any signs of life or undeath. She saw no footprints in the snow, no tire tracks on the streets. Perhaps JT was right. Colorado Springs had become a cold tomb.

  Once they arrived, they were in luck. The car lot had several different trucks to choose from. JT suggest they tried the newest model they could find, which ended up being a Chevrolet Colorado, ironically.

  "Cover me," JT said as he entered the car lot's office. He made quick work of locating the key box which, even though someone busted it open, still had many keys and clickers
hanging within it. JT thumbed through the yellow tags and let out a hoot when he found the keys to the truck.

  "All right, let's give this baby a shot!" he said as he climbed into the driver's seat. A pitiful whine came from the truck's engine. It only lasted a few seconds, then nothing.

  "I'll check the service bay, see if they have any jumper cables inside or-" JT said.

  That was all Hannah heard. She was listening to JT and in an instant she found herself face down in the snow. All she could make out was the muffled sound of her coat tearing as her cheeks and lips fell numb. She couldn't even get out a scream.

  The pressure of whatever landed on her back disappeared. A gunshot and an exclamation from JT broke her panic. "Holy shit. I've never seen them do that before."

  Yanked to a standing position, Hannah wiped her face with shaky hands. She pulled her pistol and spun around. The gun shot was sure to attract any other zombies in the area. That had to be what landed on her. Where it came from, she couldn't guess. They hadn't been sloppy in their approach.

  "Hannah, run. We need to get inside the showroom."

  JT shuffled up the slight incline to the glass building. She didn't need him to tell her that. She sprinted, stumbling through the white water, to make her way beside JT in the showroom. Snow had drifted inside one shattered glass pane and covered a nice sports car in a white blanket.

  Four zombies milled around like weekend shoppers around the inside of the showroom. JT skidded to a stop, the snow making disgusting squishing sounds as he did. The zombies turned like a military unit towards the sound. One on the other side of the sports car clambered up on the hood. It made a silent hiss in JT and Hannah's direction. It looked to be a teenager before it turned. Its black to gray skin, rotted, sunken eye sockets, and cheeks made it hard to tell though.

  "There they go again," JT said. "I've never seen them do shit like that before. When did they start climbing? The one that almost got you jumped from the back of the truck next to us."

  "Now isn't the time for scientific investigation," Hannah exclaimed. She brought her pistol up and with a smooth pull hit the sports car zombie dead center in the head.

  The other three zombies weren't in as good a shape as the sports car one. In fact, one of them had their right arm dangling by some muscle tissue. It flopped back and forth, smacking its chest each time it lurched forward. Dr. Childs little theory, was he right? They had been lucky and saw few zombies in the past year. None that they had come across looked as decomposed as these three.

  JT raised his handgun and popped off a shot. Instead of hitting his target in the head, a little puff exploded off the zombie's neck. He gave Hannah a sheepish grin. While she spent a few hours every day to keep her skills up, JT had become lax about it. She pushed down her 'I told you so' and closed the gap between her and the almost armless zombie. In one move, she took it down with a knife to the skull.

  "Let's not make any more noise," she silently shouted at JT.

  The other two zombies turned to face her. Her back to the car, she crouched, ready to pounce. She sent a quick thank you to God that no Runners had appeared.

  With the two remaining zombies focused on her, JT rushed behind them. He swept the leg of one, who was once a middle age woman. It landed on the snow cover with a soft thud. JT crushed its skull with a swift blow of his metal pipe. The last one turned to JT now, which gave Hannah the opportunity to jump and ram her knife deep into the back of its head. Swift in her movements, the knife was in and out, the zombie splat on the snow, and she landed with a gentle puff.

  She stepped backward to the car. A quick scan of the area revealed no other zombies approaching their position. JT joined her, after he wiped gross looking brown stuff of his pipe by rolling it in the snow.

  "That was a little pack," Hannah said. Her chest heaved up and down. She willed her body to calm down.

  "Yeah. Guess the city isn't completely empty. Should have known to be more on our toes."

  Hannah couldn't stop herself. It spilled out. "And you shouldn't be so lax on your practice, babe."

  "Pssh," was his reply. "I got them in the end. You know I'd let nothing happen to you."

  Hannah knew that to be true. It made her feel safe and scared her at the same time. She didn't want to lose him too. To be all alone in this world. She shuddered at the thought. "What now, brave one?"

  "Now, we look for a battery jumper in the workshop and we keep more alert this time," he said.

  She couldn't argue with that, so she gestured for JT to lead on. They left the showroom floor and headed down a hallway. The outside light grew dim. Hannah reached up and clicked on the flashlight strapped to her hat. The action caused a twinge of sadness. She missed Gus something fierce.

  JT opened the door at the end of the hallway with the foot of his boot. Weak shafts of light punctuated the darkness from the three garage bay door windows.

  "It looks clear," JT said, taking a step inside.

  Relieved, she thanked God. She stood guard at the door, leaving it open, while JT rummaged around the garage. On one lift hung a little sedan, one wheel off. The other two bays were empty. After what seemed like hours, JT came back with a large blue and black box he carried by a handle with both hands.

  "Lead the way," he grunted.

  They returned to the truck without incident. JT hooked up the jumper, climbed in, and turned the key. Hannah stood vigilant, looking everywhere at once, as the engine roared to life. JT backed the truck out of its spot. Hannah kept skimming her eyes over the area.

  Nothing stirred, except the snow blown in the air by the wind. Hannah hopped up into the passenger side and JT eased the truck out onto the street toward the RV so they could gather more of their belongings.

  RETURN

  The truck tore up the light snow cover that blanketed the switchback highway. JT gave the Chevy his seal of approval.

  He didn't know if his memory was faulty or if there had been some cleanup, but the highway was clearer of any wreckage then he recalled.

  There were tracks in the snow, which made the way easier. He wondered if any of this was Gus' doing? Would he put people this far out in this kind of weather? It was supposed to be spring, so maybe winter was that harsh and the people from the mountain had no choice but to plow through it all and clear the way.

  Hannah sat beside him, twiddling her sheathed knife in her hands. Every time he glanced over at her, he saw her biting her lip.

  "What is it, Han?" he asked.

  "I don't know. It's probably just nerves, being back here. I just have this bad feeling for some reason. I don't like how clear the road is or how easy going it has been."

  JT laughed. "Not everything we do has to be a damn Olympic marathon. Our stay in Nevada was easy."

  "I realize that," she sighed. "I try not to be negative. It's a struggle, though, after all we've been through. I've learned the hard way I need to listen to my gut, and it's saying something's not right here."

  "Like you said Hannah, it's probably just a combination of nerves and excitement." JT reached over and rubbed her leg. Hannah reached down, pulled his hand up and kissed it before intertwining their fingers. They rode on in silence for the next few miles.

  They came to the point where the road cut through a gap in the mountains. JT flashed back to the undead ambush that almost got them back when the snow reached up to his knees. After that, the cold almost got them. He never shivered so much in his damn life, and cold didn't bother him that much. That led him to thoughts about Josh, Henry, even Lindsay. He wondered how they were doing and what they had been up to.

  Man, I hadn't thought about them much since we left. No, what he dwelt on were the people lost along the way. The ones he couldn't protect. Tyrone, Ashley, Alan, Randall, hell even Dusty. He tried not to, and when he would slip into a funk about them, Hannah would always seem to sense it and give him some extra attention. He never brought it up to Hannah, but he'd found it odd he never seemed to come across any alcohol any
more. Not that the desire hit him too often, not after what happened when he let it get out of control. What would I have done if I lost her? He couldn't picture it.

  The wheel became loose in his hand and JT shook himself out of his trip down memory lane and pulled his attention back to the road. They were going down the hill past the electrical station by the lake.

  Hannah fell silent too while he drifted off. Now she spoke up. "Do you think those crazy dump truck guys ever came back?"

  "What? No, I think you pretty much decimated them," JT said with a proud chuckle. "Why, is it the tracks that got you thinking?"

  "Yes, along with my gut feeling."

  "They look like regular car tracks to me. Remember, Gus is a tough old coot. I'm sure soon we'll come across some kind of scout or something Henry's rigged up and a welcoming party will come out to greet us."

  Hannah sat stiff in the seat next to him. She gazed out the windshield like a sentinel.

  They rolled through Estes Park and Hannah's mood jumped to him like a contagion.

  The town looked fine, as fine as any town after The Outbreak did. JT scanned every intersection he came to as he rolled through at ten miles an hour. He noticed subtle signs as they passed, like the broken out business windows. There seemed to be more damage to property overall, but not the kind he'd seen in places where panic set in. He couldn't describe it better than that.

  Continuing on straight, the road ahead became more clear, almost as if someone plowed it. He wondered if his paranoid mind made a case for something that wasn't true, or if Hannah's feelings were accurate. He imagined Henry wouldn't waste the time and effort to plow the road to a town miles away. Spring was here, and the snow cover already showed signs of melting.